Ex-Pittsburgh school cop found guilty of molesting boys

Charges against Robert Lellock involved boys at Rooney Middle School in 1990s

A former Pittsburgh Public Schools police officer has been found guilty of molesting four boys more than a decade ago.

On Monday, an Allegheny County jury found Robert Lellock, 44, guilty on all 13 counts he was charged with. His sentencing is set for Oct. 8.

One unidentified victim said, "I feel a sense of peace in my heart that he can't do this to anybody else. I’ve been waiting 15 years for this to happen and it finally happened."

Lellock, of Beltzhoover, had denied charges that he pulled male students out of class so he could molest them in a supply closet.

The allegations involved boys who were 13 and 14 and students at Arthur J. Rooney Middle School in Brighton Heights in the late 1990s.

One of the victims testified that Lellock forced him to perform oral sex and offered him money for oral sex. Those accusations amounted to first-degree felonies. They are charges that come with mandatory sentences of 10 to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors are expected to ask the judge to run those sentences consecutively, meaning Lellock could spend the next 40 years behind bars.

Lellock and the school district are being sued by some of the alleged victims, who claim district officials failed to properly respond if their teachers reported the incidents.

Lellock was suspended and then resigned in September after the allegations surfaced.

"It was a relief," said one victim after the verdict. "I know it's embarrassing to come out as a man and say that another man did something to him, but it's the best thing to let it go and get it off your chest and not bury it. (It's) the best thing I could have ever done."

He added this warning to all parents: "Talk to your kids about if somebody ever does something to you. No matter what they tell you, to always go and tell someone right away, no matter what."

As for Lellock, the victim said, "I just hope he rots in prison."

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